The rules of this forum are largely based on RFC1855, a widely accepted internet standard for netiquette. These rules are applicable in the main website, forums, PM system and the shoutbox (when available).

Section 1: Posting Guidelines

Language
Posts should be in English only. Non-English posts may be removed. If a message is unreadable due to spelling and / or grammar, it may be removed. We don't ask you to be a 'Spelling Bee' champion, or an English Major, only that you post messages that are legible. This means no Spanish, Latin, binary, hexadecimal, or whatever slang you want to invent on the spot. Please also be aware that some automated spam-bots post in languages other than English. If you see a spam thread, DO NOT POST IN IT, as this makes the bot/s reply.

Post Legibly
In the digital age, you would have thought that legibility would no longer be a problem. As RFC 1588 states, use mixed case and proper punctuation. Posting in "l33t sp33k" (replacing letters with numbers and/or special symbols) or "LeEt CaPs" (alternating case excessively) is prohibited. Users are not to use {color=silver}text{/color} when posting to a thread or the shout box. If found using the invisible font, esp. to post spam or illicit links or material, users will be temporarily/permanently banned.

Illegal Subjects
Prohibited subjects include, but are not limited to: Warez/pirating, hacking, drugs, pornography, religion, and racism. Incitement or 'encouragement' of these activities is also prohibited. Further subjects that are considered 'Illegal' by forum moderators include 'versus' threads, conspiracy threads and the portrayal and/or re-enactment of violent deaths/acts via images, words or videos. If we see you posting threads promoting any of these topics you will be warned or banned. Please note that we may add to this list in future, to ensure that subjects and topics that encourage or promote flaming or abuse in any way are kept under control. It's at the Moderators and Admins' discretion as to whether posted content is acceptable or not.

Which Forum?
Make post in the forum/thread that is most appropriate for the topic being presented. Keep the focus: Questions outside the scope of a certain forum and/or topic will be moved, locked, or simply deleted. To ensure you post in the correct forum section, please make sure you review the entire Project Reality forums before posting.

Search
Before creating a thread, use the forum Search function to try and find previously relevant threads or post. We have a large forum community and there is a good chance that your question/suggestion has been posted in the past.

Respect
Respect every forum member and moderator. All forum posters are to be treated equally with respect. Repeatedly using vulgar language and flaming somebody is not acceptable behavior. Respect Forum Moderators, as they are the authority of the forums. Speaking to them with intentional spite will not be tolerated and may result in the loss of your forum privileges.

Section 2: Post Content

When posting in an online forum or chat, there are several things in which you have to pay attention to. One of the most important things is content. We have a very large member base so you must keep in mind that what you say can/will be offensive to other members. To prevent this from occurring unnecessarily, you must abide to our stricter set of rules regarding what you post. All moderators are instructed to ensure that these rules are maintained and will discipline any offenders.

Spamming
Spamming will ultimately get you removed from our forum. This includes continuously inviting people to your website, posting tons of threads within a very short time, or just plain out flooding. Project Reality does not allow any unauthorized advertisement threads/posts on our forums. Creating multiple threads on the same subject is the same as Spamming. Any type of "Free Stuff" threads that appear to be of commercial value will result in a warning and if multiple threads are posted within a certain time frame you will be banned. If an account is created and used to automatically spam advertisements of any kind, it will be perm banned immediately without any kind of warning. ISP's will be contacted and written complaints made to the relevant legal authorities.

Swearing
Remember that we have younger members in our community. Overuse of swear words will result in a warning. Further excessive use of adult language will result in further sanctions towards those concerned.

Tolerance
Racist, sexist, homophobic, or religious insults are the quickest way to get you banned from the forum.

Images, Videos and Text
No pornographic, offensive, overly/mindlessly violent or inappropriate images, videos and/or text are allowed. This covers any Signature, Avatar, User Name, User Title, Video or Image associated with your personal forum account or any image/s, or link to such, posted by any user. If you would not show your boss the image, it shouldn't be on these forums. Remember that Forum Moderators have the final say on what is acceptable.

Users may post images using only the following methods:

Re-size images so they are 1280x1024 (or widescreen comparable) MAXIMUM resolution when using IMG tags.

Include the link, but DO NOT use the IMG tags to embed the image directly into the post (obviously no image resolution restrictions with this method).

Post a thumbnail that links to the likes of 3rd party image hosting sites.

Make use of the 'Attach Files' function of the forum.

For reference threads and Community Mod forums, common sense suggests that the higher resolution images required for accurate asset creation should be zipped uploaded and the link posted or sent in a private message.

Flame wars
Direct or indirect "flaming" of any forum member to incite or perpetuate a conflict or argument is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate action by a forum moderator. Any forum topic which a forum moderator deems as controversial or that may possibly lead to an argument/flame war will be closed or deleted. We will not baby-sit topics on these forums.

Private Messages
Abuse of the Private Messaging System is against forum rules. If anyone sends threats or insults to you via the Private Message (forum or chatbox), contact a moderator who will act accordingly.

Subject Lines
Make your subject lines descriptive. Subject lines such as "Check this out!" or "This is so cool!" or "I can't believe this!" are not descriptive, and result in multiple postings on the same subject. Before posting, you might want to look through the current page of posts to see that someone has not already posted on the same subject. Failure to describe your thread or link within a thread will result in it being locked and possibly removed.

Tone
The tone of your post is very important. Always bear this in mind. Everyone has a different outlook, opinion and perception about what a person says and how they say it. It is a good idea to make use of the 'preview' option and review what you have typed, and how you have put it across. It's also a good idea not to post if you are angry about another user's views. Calm down and think your reply through..

Attitude
Constructive criticism is welcome, but should be thought through and subjective. If you don't like something, put forward mature points as to why. A persistently bad attitude and/or negative comments towards the team, the mod or otherwise will lead to your permanent removal from the forums.

Forum Tampering
Any attempt to manipulate the coding of the site, or perform any actions not of normal operations of the site, will result in an immediate IP ban.

Section 3: Forum Signatures/User Images & Titles

We allow you to display a custom signature below every post you make, but we do insist that you adhere to the following rules in order to keep the forums pleasant to browse and clear of visual clutter.

If you choose to make use of the Signature function, you must follow one of the below options. NOT a mixture!

Signature Options:

Up to 6 user bars on their own as long as when all the width and height dimensions of all the bars added up does not exceed 550x200. They must be 'grouped' together.

One forum signature no larger than 450x120 pixels and 3 user bars.

One forum signature no larger than 450x120 pixels and one 'minor' forum sig. The total size taken up must NOT exceed 550x200.

One forum signature no larger than 550x200 pixels. This size of forum signature must not include any text.

Forum users are welcome to include a few lines of text IF the Signature rule they are following does not express a limit on text. However, if the amount of text used is deemed as excessive by a PR Forum Moderator, it will be removed without warning.

Forum users are forbidden from setting their 'User Title' (directly under your forum username to the left of all posts made by that user) to "Banned". This is the user title automatically set to forum users who are added to the Banned Users group when banned from the site, and causes confusion. If you do not wish to be banned for real, do not pretend to be banned!

Your signature, Avatar, Username and/or User Title must not include any image or text which could be deemed as obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, illegal, racist or religiously inflammatory or otherwise volatile of any forum decency standards. See forum rules 1(3) and 2(4).

Any signatures contravening these rules will be removed WITHOUT NOTICE, either in full or in part. Repeated abuse of this rule will result in your personalized signature privileges being revoked permanently.

Conditions of use regarding Project Reality Release Publicity Signatures dictate that it must not be edited in any way.

Use, copying or editing of the Project Reality logo image in any format is expressly forbidden unless written (either paper or electronic means) consent is obtained by the copyright holders prior to use.

Project Reality are permitted to customize their 'sig space' on a more relaxed basis.

Section 4: Reporting a Problem Post/Thread

We have a 'Report Post' facility available for use by ordinary forum users to report posts or threads that contravene these forum rules. Using this system is very easy. If you notice such a post, just use the icon on the left hand side of the offending post. An email will then be created, and sent to all Moderators of that specific forum. Excessive use or abuse of this system will lead to the originator's account being removed without warning.

Section 5: Moderation

Users must be aware of what Moderators are here to do on the Project Reality forums, and what punishments they can expect if they are in breach of the forum rules.

Moderators are expected to lead by example, and as such are subject to the general forum rules, as well as the Project Reality code of conduct and the more stringent Moderator Code of Conduct. Moderator discipline is handled by the Administration Team if required. We make this decision to escalate any complaint, not the userbase.

Respect Project Reality Team members and Moderators
The moderators are here to assist the PR Developers and members, and ensure the smooth running of the forums. It's their job to enforce the rules. If they ban a member, edit/remove a post or lock a thread - it will be for a reason. Do not dispute a moderator's decision or argue with them in the forums. If an action is taken against you that you feel was made in error or unjustified, you can appeal by following the steps laid out in point 6 of this section.

Infraction System
Warnings are given by moderators to those who break the rules. Warnings are issued via our Infraction System. All warnings are logged in our automated database, and we are aware of those who have a 'previous record'.

This system is effective, but quite difficult to explain.

The most common method of action towards offenders is the following:

When you break a rule , a moderator will warn you via the AWS. The 'level' of the warning will depend on the offense. The IS will automatically private message and email you to make you aware that your account has received a warning. Whether you respond to the warning or not, we will assume that you are aware of the situation. Depending on the severity of the offense, you may be temporarily/permanently banned.

If you continue breaking rules, a moderator will warn you again. You can be warned for each post you make that breaches forum rules.

If you have been banned, it was not without warning or reason. Do not send in emails requesting to be un-banned. At this point, your requests are falling upon idle ears. If you are temp banned, you may be subject to having your ban lengthened as a result.

Ban Requests, Post Deletion Requests
If you find a post which you find overly offensive, please report the post or private message a moderator or administer and we will determine any further course of action.

Bans
Temporary Bans are most commonly issued as opposed to permanent bans. If your account is temporarily disabled, do NOT create another account. Bypassing a temporary ban may result in a more permanent action, and your duplicate account being perm banned. If you are perm banned, you are not welcome to return to the forums.

Multiple Forum Accounts
Users must NOT create more than one forum account, for any reason. Doing so will leave accounts open to deletion at any time with or without prior notice. The forum has systems in place that automatically pick up and alert the team of multiple accounts.

Complaints Against Moderators
If you have a VIABLE complaint against a particular moderator, we suggest you try to work out your situation via Private Message or email with him/her. Trying to contact anyone else regarding moderation issues will result in you being ignored or banned for being a pest. Do not post your issues in any forums. If you do, we will warn you via the Infraction System and remove it. Ignoring this procedure will result in a ban.

Harassment of Team members
Harassment of staff members via e-mail, instant messages, or other means of contact is a punishable offense, and could result in legal charges should the contents be serious enough. This includes registering inflammatory user accounts/names to indirectly or directly, verbally or otherwise attack team members.

Section 6: Project Reality Rights

The forums are a privately funded, privately operated, unofficial, closed community forum. It is not an open public community forum where "free speech" is a right. Our approach has always been, and remains to only intervene in order to ensure the smooth running of the forums or when users breach the above policies. However, there may be occasions where we need to intervene for reasons beyond the scope of the policies listed on this page and we reserve the unconditional right to do so in order to protect ourselves, our users and the goals of the site itself.

The administrators and moderators reserve the right to edit or remove posts, access private communications (including private messages) and intervene in communication between users.

The administrators and moderators reserve the right to edit, ban or delete user accounts and profiles at their discretion without giving prior warning.

Project Reality reserves the right to alter, edit, or update these rules as they see fit, at any time, according toevents or policies that may or may not take place.